Thanksgiving Dessert Recipes

Last night, we served pecan pie at the end of our Christmas Eve dinner, but it wasn't your usual pecan pie. This one had peppermint bark nested at the bottom of the crust. The idea was to combine all the elements of a holiday assortment in one dessert.

To do so, I melted dark chocolate and added crushed peppermint candy canes, then smeared the pie crust with a thin layer of the peppermint bark. To complete the dessert, we offered eggnog to those who wanted a drink and peppermint ice cream to the others.

Maple syrup is a staple breakfast item in our pantry. We usually use it as is to drizzle over pancakes and waffles, but since we had extra pecans for Thanksgiving, the girls and I prepared pecan squares flavored with our favorite syrup.

The topping is made of a mixture of maple syrup, of course, orange zest, brown sugar and loads of pecans. I usually bake these squares during the Christmas season.

Little Aria asked to see one of her favorite classmates, Colin, on a playdate. Aria can be very detail-oriented and asked if we could prepare mini cupcakes for the occasion. To make the sweet treat a lot more playful for the children, I topped the cupcakes with icing and sugar cookie letters.

The cake part is made with mashed bananas and pumpkin and I used an alphabet cookie cutter set. Aria helped out all through the baking process and she loved it. Colin loved the cupcakes too, and I was amazed to see he knew his alphabet as well. Isn't it impressive at only the tender age of three? It was so precious to watch them have so much fun!

This is a sample of the desserts I prepared for Thanksgivingover the past few years. We haven't decided which ones are going to be served this Thursday, but one thing we know for sure is that there are going to be plenty of sweets on the table!

I also suggest trying a pumpkin version of the sweet potato tarte almandine I published in my first cookbook, Haute Potato.